"On the morning of October 8, 1856, a small vessel flying the British flag under charter, with a Chinese crew, was seized by the Chinese. The relatively minor incident was to trigger an imperialistic war that lasted four years and involved full-scale intervention by the european powers. One of its memoral incidents was the historic looting and burning of the incredibly beautiful Summer Palace, actually a compound of two hundred buildings extending over eighty square miles--pavilions roofed with gold, filled with silks, jade, and objets d'art of great worth."--Publisher's description.